Check your letterbox for GST Voucher goodies
PUBLISHED ONJuly 01, 2015 1:02 AMByPriscilla Goy
STARTING today, about 1.6 million Singaporeans will receive letters informing them of their 2015 Goods and Services Tax (GST) Voucher benefits.
The letters will also inform them of other Budget benefits such as Medisave top-ups and Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates.
The GST Voucher scheme is given in three parts: the cash component, Medisave and Utilities-Save. It aims to help lower- and middle-income households with their expenses.
In this year's Budget, it was announced that lower-income Singaporeans will receive a permanent increase of $50 in the cash component, which is given out annually.
About 1.3 million people will receive this on Aug 1. They will get a total of up to $300 in this cash component this year.
Under the GST Voucher scheme, eligible Singaporeans aged 55 and above can also receive the one-off Seniors' Bonus of $150 to $600 in cash.
This will benefit over 660,000 elderly people. Those receiving $600 from the seniors' bonus will get half the payouts in August and half in November; the rest will receive all the payouts in August.
About 400,000 Singaporeans aged 65 and above will also receive GST Voucher - Medisave top-ups of up to $450 on Aug 1.
On top of this, Singaporean seniors aged 56 and above this year can get additional Medisave top-ups. Members of the pioneer generation can receive additional top-ups of $200 to $800 annually.
The rest will receive top-ups of $100 or $200 annually from last year to 2018, as announced in last year's Budget.
More than 800,000 households will receive up to $65 in utilities rebates this month, under the GST Voucher - Utilities-Save scheme.
About 800,000 households will also receive the S&CC rebate, which will offset half a month to one month of charges, depending on their Housing Board flat type.
The Utilities-Save rebate is given out quarterly and costs the Government $180 million each year. The S&CC rebate is given out in April, July and October this year, and will cost $80 million this year.
Information on the GST Voucher scheme can be found at www.gstvoucher.gov.sg. Details on the other Budget benefits are available at www.singaporebudget.gov.sg
goyshiyi@sph.com.sg
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